Download Tectonic Landforms

Tectonic
Landforms
Hotspots
Hot spots
• Hot Spots – Places where plumes of magma
are rising from the asthenosphere, even
though they are not necessarily near to a
plate margin.
• If the crust is particularly thin or weak then
magma may escape onto the surface as a
volcanic eruption.
• Lava may build up over time until it is above
sea-level, giving rise to a volcanic island.
Hot Spot Locations
Case study: Hawaii
• The Hawaiian Islands = A chain of
volcanic islands.
• Pacific Plate – moving over hot spot for
70 million years.
• As plate moves – volcanoes move = a
chain of extinct volcanoes (seamounts).
• Loihi.